What Good Will the Barking of the Dog be after the Hyena has gotten away?

By Bob Buttons

A couple of months back, the Eritrean president Isayas Afewerki appeared on Aljazeera’s Riz Khan show to give an interview. The issues raised touched upon various political matters within the country and beyond. To the question, “When are elections going to be held?” he retorted, “What elections?” The journalist had to put up with his sneer and push further. “Elections in Eritrea,” the journalist pointed up. Then Mr. President answered, “Elections if you mean like those we witnessed in Morocco, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and even the US, believe me, they will never happen in this country; it will take decades.” The journalist didn’t give up. He went on to ask whether the president believed that elections constitute the core of democracy and if one doesn’t hold elections, then one doesn’t have democracy. The president’s answer was really nefarious but it holds some element of truth in it. Here is how it goes: “It depends on what you mean by democracy. By democracy if you mean polarizing society vertically along religious and ethnic lines, you would call this a democracy; I wouldn’t call this a democracy.”
True, many leaders, especially in Africa, tread their people down under the guise of democracy. It appears to me, though, that those who tell their people they are staunch believers in democracy and yet don’t practice what they preach are worse than those who openly tell their people that they are not there for democratic governance to thrive. Still, there are others who say they favor democracy but claim it is only in its infancy in their part of the world. Nonetheless, they do look to their laurels to choke and stifle it under such ploy.

In fact, a democracy may go through a series of stages before it finally assumes a perfect form and shape if there is anything as perfect democracy, that is. However, that doesn’t mean that humanity is not capable of achieving one. The underpinning tenets of democracy mainly boil down to freedom. All forms of life, fauna and flora alike, crave freedom, thus democracy.

There are various breeds of democracy but when it comes to applying the democratic principles to governance, there exist two manifestations: democracy of content and democracy of procedure. The former refers to a case where everything is done with honesty, and the values of human freedom are held in high regard. As a result, we have a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The latter kind is mainly characterized by various forms of make-believe scenes that gum up the works in the real democratization process. Elections may be held and institutions may be set up, but the sole purpose is to give the rest of the world a sham impression. Resulting from such exercise is some sort of oligarchic kleptocracy.

That said, the Ethiopian people have had their share of democracy, whatever the format might be. They have cast ballots, but it is not quite clear if they had said what they meant. The polls were said to have been transparent. We wish the hearts of the people were too. It is the pre-election period which is said to have been marred with a lot of unfairness, intimidation, and unequal access to resources made available, including the media, for the overall endeavor. What do we make of that? The proper time to intervene would be the run-up period if problems were that conspicuous back then. “What good will the barking of the dog be after the hyena has gotten away?” as the Amharic saying goes. Or as the Nigerians would say, it seems to be too late to fatten the cow on the market day. Whether it is the opposition group or the Human Rights Watch who says this or that, what is done cannot be undone right now. It is all much ado about nothing. So, it is better to put things behind and concentrate painstakingly on the years to come.

Special for NewsDire.com